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The Conversation of John Muir.

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JOHN MUIR, AMERICAN NATURALIST, EXPLORER, AUTHOR, 1838-1914
BESIDE ONE OF THE TREES HE LOVED
The mountains and flower-covered foothills of the Sierras, the glaciers of Yosemite, giant sequoias — these were
the comrades of his high spirit. He lived among them for many years — often in loneliness for human comradeship,
studied them with devotion, with the close observation of a scientific mind, and wrote and talked of them with
[ charm and power. He persistently championed their preservation for the people and to his efforts we owe to-day
our sequoia groves, the Yosemite Valley and Yellowstone Park
(Photograph presented by John Muir to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1911)
110

In this article, Melville B. Anderson writes of his visits with Muir at Martinez, saying that Muir was always very eager to drop his work for the opportunity of a long talk. On a visit in August 1914, among the stories Muir related was an episode that occurred while he was with the Forestry Commission in the mountains of the south. He had had some differences with an Eastern naturalist and on this occasion believed he had gotten "the better of him." As they climbed the slopes to the higher mountains, the autumn colors were strikingly beautiful. "My friend and the others were making fun of me for my enthusiasm" Muir said. When they reached the summit where the panorama was breathtaking, Muir continued, "I couldn't hold in, and began to jump about and sing and glory in it all. Then I happened to look around and catch sight of------standing there as cool as a rock, with a half amused look on his face at me, but never saying a word. 'Why don't you let yourself out at a sight like that?' I said. 'I don't wear my heart upon my sleeve,' he retorted. 'Who cares where you wear your little heart, man?' I cried. 'There you stand in the face of all Heaven come down on earth, like a critic of the universe, as if to say, Come, Nature, bring on the best you have: I'm from BOSTON!"

JOHN MUIR, AMERICAN NATURALIST, EXPLORER, AUTHOR, 1838-1914
BESIDE ONE OF THE TREES HE LOVED
The mountains and flower-covered foothills of the Sierras, the glaciers of Yosemite, giant sequoias — these were
the comrades of his high spirit. He lived among them for many years — often in loneliness for human comradeship,
studied them with devotion, with the close observation of a scientific mind, and wrote and talked of them with
[ charm and power. He persistently championed their preservation for the people and to his efforts we owe to-day
our sequoia groves, the Yosemite Valley and Yellowstone Park
(Photograph presented by John Muir to Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1911)
110